Primary Fertmenter doubles as Bottling Bucket?

[ChiN8]

Ok,
I might be confusing myself here. but some help would be great here.

After you cool your wort in your kettle and airate into your primary fermentor then pitch the yeast. After the yeast has settled after the first 48-72 hours, can I siphon the beer into my secondary fermenter for the remaining fermentation period, sanitize my primary fermenter bucket and use that as a bottling bucket?

When you siphon into a bottle bucket, does that bucket need to be covered to prevent contamination?

Reason I am asking, I am purchasing a new kit (1 BB Carboy, 1 Bucket) on the website it states, "great for single stage fermenting." However, I don't want to do single-stage. So is the above process correct? Or do I need to purchase another BB Carboy or bottling bucket?

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

You can do primary or secondary in anything that has the room and can be sanitized. I'd question you moving it from primary to anything in a 48-72 hour window. Even though fermentation "might" be done, there is still activity going on (yeast cleaning up off flavors, etc).

After moving to kegging, my old bottling bucket got a new lid and is now in the primary fermentation rotation. It's nice not having to use a siphon to transfer to secondary or to the keg...

And to answer your other question, yes, a lid is very helpful to prevent contamination during bottling, but keep in mind you'll need to let air into the container at some point for the beer to come out (I've sucked sanitizer/vodka/gin into the bottling bucket a few times because I forgot to remove the CO2 seal)...

 

[ChiN8]

Thank you for the quick response,
but maybe you could assist me some more. I viewed a Home Brew 101 video, which I thought was EXTREMELY WEIRD! and after your response I want to clarify this.

In the video the gentleman siphoned his beer from his fermentor after 48 hours into a 2nd fermentor where he let it sit for another week before he kegged his beer.
^^^^ is that normal?

Or do you just allow the beer to ferment in one container? And the bucket you pitch the yeast in...... how long do you let that sit before siphoning into your secondary fermenter?

 

[Yooper]

I think it's too early to move the beer in 48 hours. Maybe a week or so. Most of us just leave it in the original container for 2-3 weeks total and then rack (siphon) the beer to the bottling bucket.

I love this website for great info (and pictures, too!): http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Thank you for the quick response,
but maybe you could assist me some more. I viewed a Home Brew 101 video, which I thought was EXTREMELY WEIRD! and after your response I want to clarify this.

In the video the gentleman siphoned his beer from his fermentor after 48 hours into a 2nd fermentor where he let it sit for another week before he kegged his beer.
^^^^ is that normal?

Or do you just allow the beer to ferment in one container? And the bucket you pitch the yeast in...... how long do you let that sit before siphoning into your secondary fermenter?

As Yoopers above me said, most here feel that 48-72 hours is too soon. I've left some beers in primary for several months without any detectable off flavors (personal perception) and back when I was bottling, I've bottled from the primary as well.

There really is no 1 correct way to brew beer, but there is a lot of information available on this site to help you brew it better each time based upon your available resources. Keep researching and asking questions!

 

[ibbones]

I started with a kit like that and used the bucket for primary and bottling. If fact, I still do but I have since bought more buckets. I usually have one set aside so I can bottle with it but I also agree with the others and would let it set in the bucket a lot longer then two or three days.

 

[JJL]

+1 on the 48-72 hours being too soon. I usually wait about a week and move to the secondary, but I'm a 2 stage kinda guy. If you move it too soon from the primary, you risk siphoning before the yeast have finished doing their job. My guess is that the video assumes you are brewing a simple ale and that fermentation will have slowed within 72 hours. This isn't always the case.

Use whatever you want for the bottling bucket. Typically the only difference between the primary and the bottling bucket is a hole drilled in the side to attach a spigot for bottling.

As for covering the the bottling bucket, you aren't trying to seal in your beer like when you arre fermenting. You are really just trying to keep stuff from falling into the bucket while you are bottling.

 

[Bobby_M]

OT: Screw you JJL and your anytime-access to New Glarus beers.

 

[Arkador]

I bottle from either a carboy or AlePail using an autosiphon, I do not use a bucket with a spigot.

I keg nearly everything now, so it is a mute point for me.

 

[JJL]

OT: @Bobby M - Don't hate

 

[NyQuil_Driver]

The advice I've been sticking with for two-staging with is a simple 1-2-3. 1 Week in primary (minimum), 2 weeks in secondary (minimum), 3 weeks conditioning in the bottle (minimum).

You'll have plenty of time to clean out the primary bucket over those two weeks before you need to reuse it as a bottling bucket. Only downside, which is killin' me right now, is that you have to wait to pitch another batch until whatever's in secondary is ready to bottle.

I really need to score another bucket